TY - JOUR
T1 - A stable atmospheric-pressure plasma for extreme-temperature synthesis
AU - Xie, Hua
AU - Liu, Ning
AU - Zhang, Qian
AU - Zhong, Hongtao
AU - Guo, Liqun
AU - Zhao, Xinpeng
AU - Li, Daozheng
AU - Liu, Shufeng
AU - Huang, Zhennan
AU - Lele, Aditya Dilip
AU - Brozena, Alexandra H.
AU - Wang, Xizheng
AU - Song, Keqi
AU - Chen, Sophia
AU - Yao, Yan
AU - Chi, Miaofang
AU - Xiong, Wei
AU - Rao, Jiancun
AU - Zhao, Minhua
AU - Shneider, Mikhail N.
AU - Luo, Jian
AU - Zhao, Ji Cheng
AU - Ju, Yiguang
AU - Hu, Liangbing
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Limited.
PY - 2023/11/30
Y1 - 2023/11/30
N2 - Plasmas can generate ultra-high-temperature reactive environments that can be used for the synthesis and processing of a wide range of materials 1,2. However, the limited volume, instability and non-uniformity of plasmas have made it challenging to scalably manufacture bulk, high-temperature materials 3–8. Here we present a plasma set-up consisting of a pair of carbon-fibre-tip-enhanced electrodes that enable the generation of a uniform, ultra-high temperature and stable plasma (up to 8,000 K) at atmospheric pressure using a combination of vertically oriented long and short carbon fibres. The long carbon fibres initiate the plasma by micro-spark discharge at a low breakdown voltage, whereas the short carbon fibres coalesce the discharge into a volumetric and stable ultra-high-temperature plasma. As a proof of concept, we used this process to synthesize various extreme materials in seconds, including ultra-high-temperature ceramics (for example, hafnium carbonitride) and refractory metal alloys. Moreover, the carbon-fibre electrodes are highly flexible and can be shaped for various syntheses. This simple and practical plasma technology may help overcome the challenges in high-temperature synthesis and enable large-scale electrified plasma manufacturing powered by renewable electricity.
AB - Plasmas can generate ultra-high-temperature reactive environments that can be used for the synthesis and processing of a wide range of materials 1,2. However, the limited volume, instability and non-uniformity of plasmas have made it challenging to scalably manufacture bulk, high-temperature materials 3–8. Here we present a plasma set-up consisting of a pair of carbon-fibre-tip-enhanced electrodes that enable the generation of a uniform, ultra-high temperature and stable plasma (up to 8,000 K) at atmospheric pressure using a combination of vertically oriented long and short carbon fibres. The long carbon fibres initiate the plasma by micro-spark discharge at a low breakdown voltage, whereas the short carbon fibres coalesce the discharge into a volumetric and stable ultra-high-temperature plasma. As a proof of concept, we used this process to synthesize various extreme materials in seconds, including ultra-high-temperature ceramics (for example, hafnium carbonitride) and refractory metal alloys. Moreover, the carbon-fibre electrodes are highly flexible and can be shaped for various syntheses. This simple and practical plasma technology may help overcome the challenges in high-temperature synthesis and enable large-scale electrified plasma manufacturing powered by renewable electricity.
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U2 - 10.1038/s41586-023-06694-1
DO - 10.1038/s41586-023-06694-1
M3 - Article
C2 - 38030779
AN - SCOPUS:85178226569
SN - 0028-0836
VL - 623
SP - 964
EP - 971
JO - Nature
JF - Nature
IS - 7989
ER -